All Rise...

The Charge

Rock and Roll will never die.

Opening Statement

Written by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), Last
Days is loosely based on Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's final days before
ending his life in 1993. Is Van Sant's film closer to To Die For than to
Gerry?

Facts of the Case

The concept is interesting, as Blake (Michael Pitt, The Village)
leaves rehab and stumbles home, where Scott (Scott Green, Cthulu) and
Asia (Asia Argento, xXx) stay. Various
individuals come in and out of the house over the next couple of days, before
Blake is found dead in the guest house.

The Evidence

A warning here, there is very little action in the film, to the point of
being tedious. Aside from some internal monologues, there is no character
interaction for the first 20 minutes of the film. There is a dolly shot that
pans out from the room where Blake is recording some music, and it gently keeps
panning out. And out. And out. For five minutes. The last minute or so of the
Boyz II Men video "On Bended Knee" plays on a TV. So those who are
looking for indelible dialogue may want to go elsewhere.

As Blake, Pitt gets points for looking a lot like Cobain, to the point where
it's a little bit eerie, but his performance is mumbled almost entirely, except
for a couple of lucid words when talking to a Yellow Pages salesman who visits
the house. And the supporting cast ad libs various scenes that border on
incoherent. Aside from a same sex make-out scene with one of the band members
(Lukas Haas, Mars Attacks!), all
Scott seems to do is sing along to Velvet Underground songs.

Now having said these things about the film, it appears that Van Sant's
style for the film is purposely distant and quiet; because his intent is that no
one apparently wanted to listen to Blake. He was a commodity and business
opportunity first, before being a musician and emotional human being. His
management is only concerned about the money to be made and the tours to be
taken, and issues stern warnings about what will happen to everyone else except
him if the tour doesn't start on time. Everyone in the house steps over Blake
when he passes out in the middle of hallways or closets, and the only meaningful
conversation in the film is one that Blake has with the Yellow Pages salesman.
While he is unaware of it, the salesman seems to be asking questions about
Blake's days before this, and what his feelings on the future may be, and this
does have some effect, but the rest of the film lessens the impact of that
scene.

The reason why this film gets such a low video score is that about the 1
hour, 5 minute mark, there appears to be a video encoding error that lingers for
several minutes on the 4:3 version of the film (sorry, it was the original
version of the film, so I stuck with it). I didn't see this on the widescreen
version of the film, but this should serve as an FYI to the purists out there.
For extra material, the film has some minimal extras. Aside from a 20 minute
look at the making of the movie that is disjointed and incoherent, there's a
video by the fictional group included, and an 8 minute deleted scene, shot
entirely with a fixed overhead angle that is nice. A look at the dolly shot in
the movie shows you why production assistants and teamsters are vital to a
film's production, as their pragmatic steps in walking the tracked camera
backwards shows you how exact things need to be sometimes.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Van Sant may hate to hear it, but more activity and interesting characters
would have probably made this a more palatable film. The scripted scenes are
good, but they are few and far between. What could have been an underrated gem
winds up being something a bit redundant, especially if you've already read
Cobain's journals or sorted through a plethora of information that can be found
on his life.

Closing Statement

I really wanted to enjoy this film, but there is just too much inertia going
on, and its tone is almost prevocational because of what does or doesn't occur.
There is lost potential for the film, which also could be said about the
musician Van Sant was attempting to remember.

The Verdict

Van Sant is found guilty for his execution of Last Days, but is
acquitted for the heart he seems to try to put into it. Hopefully a better film
will come along to eulogize a great musician who left the world far too
early.